Nothing is Going as Planned
by RoseHG19
Summary: Cato has a plan, his plan is very simply; to win the Hunger Games. Although from the moment Katniss volunteers for her sister he knows his plan is not going to work. Cato/Katniss POV Cato (no lemon) FYI there is swearing
1. So it begins

Cheers engulf me as I volunteer for tribute of the 74th annual Hunger Games. They all know that I am going to win.

I stumble onto the train with a headache and lie down on the couch. I take a look around; the train is exactly like they described it at the Academy. It's full of bright colors, odd food and drink, and the nicest furniture you will ever see. I close my eyes, and fall asleep for awhile.

When I open my eyes I first feel the knife at my throat. A second later my eyes focus on the dark deadly stare of my partner-to-be, Clove. Clove is a skinny girl, with dark hair and even darker eyes. She also has an obsession with knives. It is then that I notice the knife in her other hand, the knife in her belt, and the knife peeking out of her boot.

I don't know Clove that well as a person, all I know is that she is fierce, strong, and deadly. At the Academy I had seen her practicing, so I know that if you are one of her victims the chances of survival are very slim. I have never spoken to her and she has never spoken to me, that is, until now.

"You know Cato; you really aren't as 'hot' as all the girls say you are. They always talk about your 'beautiful' blond hair, and 'icy, cold' blue eyes, but all I see is an arrogant asshole." I push her off of me. She may be strong, but I'm stronger.

She spits at me, "What the fuck was that for?" Her eyes are sharp; her hand tightens around the knife in her hand. She throws the knife at my head. I barely get out of the way. I quickly turn and watch as the knife sinks into the picture of President Snow, right between his eyes, so even if she had missed her initial target, she still has amazing aim.

Right then our chirpy escort, Athena, walks in with our mentors Brutus, Enobaria and Lyme.

Athena annoys the shit out of me, with her odd colored skin, her hundreds of wigs, and her strange Capitol accent. Brutus, on the other hand, is the type of guy I would want to be. He has strong features and rippling muscles that look like they can push down a tree. Enobaria is the only person in all of Panem who can scare me, with her sharp, altered teeth, and sharp and bony structure. Lastly, there is Lyme and there is just something about her that makes me not trust her, but I can't put my finger on it.

"You fucking bastard," I suddenly hear Clove say under her breath.

I turn back towards her, "Me? I'm the bastard? You were the one who tried to kill me, but instead you killed the President!" I add quietly, "You're such a bitch."

I take a step closer to her, she cowers slightly, and I smirk. I couldn't actually hurt her, not yet at least; she would be a very useful ally, at least in the first half of the games.

Brutus's voice thunders from behind me, "Well, I see you two are friends now." He laughs at his own joke, but he laughs alone.

"On a brighter note," Athena says happily, "from what I have heard, the rest of the tributes are pretty pathetic, so you two will have to put on a good show for Panem. Although, not all the reapings are done yet, I think all they are probably half way through with District 12 by now, and who knows there might be a surprise from there!" Everyone laughs, even Clove, because we all know that District 12 is pathetic. They have only had two victors that I know of in the 74 years of the Hunger Games, and one of them is dead and the other is a drunk. All the tributes that come from there always die within the first day.

"Now, now, we don't want to jump to conclusions," Lyme chuckled, "They might last the night in the Arena." We all laugh harder.

"_Primrose Everdeen!"_

"_I VOLUNTEER! I volunteer as tribute!"_

"_Now what is your name?"_

"_Katniss, Katniss Everdeen."_

"_Now, if I am not mistaken that was your sister."_

"_Yes...it was."_

"_Well, lets hear it for District Twelve's very first volunteer!"_

_Silence, no clapping, everyone kisses their three middle fingers and holds it up to Everdeen._

"_Well, then...now onto the male tribute."_

Clove, Athena, Brutus, Lyme, Enobaria, and I stare at the screen, stunned.

Enobaria was the first to speak after a few silent minutes, "She's probably not a threat; she was just protecting her sister." Everyone nods in agreement.

I know differently, I saw the way she walked. She was quick on her feet and quiet. Her eyes were sharp and keen, even when she was thrown off guard. Her brown hair braided back out of her way, lined her face perfectly. She is strong, but as light as a feather. She's not a killer, she's a hunter.

Clove's voice brought me back to reality. "I'll just kill her in the bloodbath." Clove starts pacing around the room, probably trying to decide how she wants to kill her.

Brutus says to Clove: "Don't make it too brutal. I've talked with their mentor Haymitch in the past and he's had enough dead tributes on his shoulders, so make it quick." Clove tries to protest. Brutus stops her by putting up his hand, indicating that he doesn't give a fuck.

Right then I turn to Lyme, who usually wouldn't be this quiet. She's staring at me. My instincts tell me to just kill her right now. I couldn't get over this feeling of distrust I have towards her, but before I have time to act she says: "Cato, can I have a word with you in the other room?" I carefully nod.

She leads me into a part of the train that I would probably never go in. It was full of boxes and dust. It smelled stale and it has obviously not been used for ages. Dust lines everything in sight and our movements make it drift up into the air, making me want to sneeze. I look at a box and see is has an emblem on it, I squint through the blinding dust and see it says "DISTRICT 13". I look at the other boxes and see that they all say the same. It must not be true; District 13 was blown up into tiny pieces about 75 years ago to end the rebellion.

I ask Lyme, "Why do all these boxes say 'District 13' on them?"

"Well..." She starts, "This must be an older train, and they never got rid of the boxes from way back..." I can tell that she is lying but I feel that I don't want to know the truth.

I shake it off and get to the point "Why did you want to talk to me?"

"Because, Cato, you were the only one who saw it."

"Saw what?" I try to act like I don't know what she is talking about.

"The _fire_ in that girl, she is a real danger if you want to win."

"Nobody will get in my way."

"I wouldn't be too sure! You can win this, but you will have to stay focused and just kill her the second you get the chance." I nod then turn around and walk back to the room where everyone is, not wanting to talk to her anymore.


	2. The fire

"_The fire in that girl..._"

She lights up the place, literally! No one is breathing, Clove is talking to me but I can't hear her. I look up at the screen as it zooms in on Everdeen, her face lit up to perfection, and she _is_ the girl on fire. Right then the boy from her district takes her hand, the capitol goes insane.

I look away and say to myself, "That bitch."

Clove is more furious than I am; Clove thrives in the spotlight and can't stand it when it is taken away from her.

As our stylists come to congratulate us I look over at Everdeen, even without the flames engulfing her, she is still radiant. Haymitch started to nudge her and the boy from her district towards the elevator, probably trying to get them away from me, which is not a bad idea because both Clove and I desire to kill them.

I watch as they walk to the elevator, Everdeen takes one glance back at me, and smirks. I clench my teeth resisting the urge to slap that smirk off her face. She laughs to herself and turns back around, obviously amused at how easily she could get under my skin.

I lose my temper. She steps into the elevator and I watch as their escort presses the button to go up to their rooms. I get to the elevator just as the doors are about to close, I stop them with my hand and they retreat back. Haymitch looks like he is about to vomit, their escort looks like she might slap me across the face with her fan, and the boy from Everdeen's district just looks at the floor. I give them a nice smirk. My eyes run over Everdeen who does not look amused. Her strong voice startles me slightly.

"What do you want?"

"I just thought I would tell you that it's not polite to smirk at people."

"Oh yeah, because that is totally not what you were doing just five seconds ago!"

"If I could kill you right now-" suddenly I felt a strong hand grip my shoulder. I turn to see Brutus standing behind me, and he tells me calmly: "Come on Cato, we should go." I don't protest. I just glare at her as the elevator doors close between us.

I am not surprised to see Clove screaming and throwing a tantrum when I get to our room on the 2nd floor. Clove, like usual, has a knife in either hand and is thrashing around screaming, "That fucking bitch is going to get it!"

I just sit down on the couch and enjoy the show. I smile and shake my head, laughing to myself as Clove continues her rant about Everdeen. I let her go on for about a minute then I tell her, "Wow, I almost forgot how immature you are until this very minute."

"Shut the fuck up, Cato!"

I laugh at her and say, "Well, I guess someone is on her period."

That pisses her off; she turns around and throws a knife at a wall. The knife goes into the wall as if it were only made of butter. I figure that Clove and Enobaria probably made an agreement that she would not try and kill me, at least until the games, which is fine by me. I say to her causally, "I've seen better." She turns around sharply to face me, her eyes tell me she wants to kill me right here and right now, but I don't care; she can't actually kill me even without the agreement; I am just better then her.

"Cato, why do you have to be such a fucking bastard?"

"Sunshine, if you like me just say so."

Clove glares at me, and I grin at her. She tells me, "I wish I could just cut that smile right off your fucked up face."

I pause, smile, and add, "I wish I could cut the smile right off of Everdeen's face!"

Clove sneers, a very unsettling sneers, and she says evilly, "Finally something we agree on, but I still get to kill her."

I look at her as if she were insane, "Who said you can kill Everdeen?"

"I did!"

I want to hit her so bad, I want to just kill her now, and get it over with. I resist the urge and stand up to look her in the face and say, "Clove, let me say this slowly so you understand me: I. Am. Going. To. Kill. Everdeen. And. You. Can. Go. Fuck. Yourself." That makes her snap.

She swiftly grabs one of the pillows that is on the couch and throws it at me. I trained in Swordsmanship and Clove has trained Knife Throwing. I started when I was only six and Clove started at the normal age of seven. I am eighteen and she is only fifteen, but she still has an amazingly strong arm. So when she throws the pillow at me, its force almost makes me lose my balance, but only briefly.

"Our mentors are not going to like that!"

"My deal with the mentors is that I can't kill you! How the fuck could I kill you with a shitty-ass pillow?"

"Well it would be great if you could find a way to kill Everdeen by throwing a pillow at her before the games start, because then we probably would not get in as much trouble as cutting her up into bits with a sword. "

"Or a knife!" I shake my head at Clove. There is no way I am going to let Clove kill that girl. If she tries to without me giving her the okay, I might just have to kill her. I sigh and tell her, "Look Clove, you're just a small immature little girl, killing that girl is going to take someone older, more mature, and well, just better in general, which is me."

She rolls her eyes at me and she opens her mouth, probably to say some snide remark, but she never gets the chance because our mentors and Athena walk in right then.

They look at the two of us, wondering what happened. Then they see the pillow at my feet and the knife in the wall behind Clove.

Enobaria spoke, "I don't even want to know!"

I knew I had to take the chance, so I said it, "Don't worry, I don't think Clove will get pregnant!"

I wasn't even trying to piss Clove off; I was just trying to break the tension from the shrapnel that was left from Clove and mine's fight. Either way Clove was pissed, per usual. I was not the only one noticing Clove's anger rising, because Lyme quickly said, "Well, whatever happened, we don't want to know. Now the two of you need to get ready for dinner."

Clove stormed off to her room, screaming and then slamming her door shut. I just laughed to myself.

These games were going to be a piece of cake.

It's late at night but I go down to the tributes' lunch room. I don't really know why, but something just told me that I need to be there. I sit down at the Career table and lay my head down. My mind is running around mine and Clove's fight. I smile to myself, Clove is fun, and so easy to annoy, it makes it all the better.

All of a sudden I hear the table creak under someone's lightweight. I don't really feel like talking to anyone, I don't even feel like being here.

"Whoever you are; go away!" I say to the mystery person with my head still down. They don't say anything. I look up, thinking that no one is there and I had just imagined the noise, but she is still sitting there staring at me.

"Staring at people is rude, Everdeen."

"You are such a hypocrite; you stare at me, and then tell me not to stare! Oh, and you tell me not to smirk, but that doesn't stop you!"

I ignore everything she says and say to her, "Why are you even here? Are you following me? Well, I really shouldn't be surprised, considering that I am amazing." She smiles slightly, and shakes her head, silently telling me, _"Whatever makes you happy."_ I shake it off and ask again, "What are you doing here?"

"I couldn't sleep and I needed something to eat, so I thought there might be something here, but apparently not. What are you doing down here?"

I open my mouth to say some lie, but I stop, "I guess because there aren't any people here to tell me what to do, and where to be." She looks at me and our eyes meet. It's then that I see it again, the hunter in her eyes.

"So Everdeen, what's your specialty?" She looked a little taken back, she probably thought I didn't give a crap, but I did, more so I know her weaknesses. She looks down at the table and says, "I don't know what you mean...I don't have any 'specialties'...I'm from District 12, remember?" Her face shows no emotion, she knows how to hide how she feels and if she is lying or not. I know from her eyes though that she is lying so I say, "I'm not an idiot you know, I have been trained for 12 years, and I know you can hunt." Her eyes shoot straight up at me.

"You don't know anything about me, Cato, and you never will, because you will die before you get the chance."

She gets up and starts to walk away. I jump up from the table, and quickly grab her wrist and turn her around. I pin her against the wall; one of my hands is on her shoulder to keep her against the wall. My other hand is still gripping her wrist to make sure she doesn't try and hit me. She struggles a little trying to get free, but I am too strong.

I lean in, my lips so close to touching her ear, I whisper, "You're stupid to think that I am going to be the one dead! You won't make it five minutes in the arena and I will make damn sure of it." I release her and head to the elevator.

I can feel her eyes burning holes into my back but I don't dare turn around and let her have the last word.


	3. Specialty

**Authors Note: I just want to say thanks to everyone who has read my fan fiction. I will try to update as fast as I can but it does take some time, thanks for your support. Hope you enjoy :)**

"Cato, it's time to get up! It's the first day of training!" Athena calls to me in her annoying accent. I roll out of bed and get dressed for the day and head out for breakfast. I get to the table and acknowledge Clove by saying, "Sunshine." and I add one of my winning smiles to go with it.

She replies, "Jackass." with glare, Athena gives a disapproving look at Clove. Brutus and Enobaria snicker as Lyme just smiles and continues eating.

I ask the mentor, "So, what's the game plan?"

Enobaria answers, "The usual, you scare the living daylights out of the tributes." She flashes me a smile, with her altered teeth. I am starting to get the feeling that she knows that she scares me and she is taking advantage of it.

Lyme continues for her, "The game makers will be watching, so show them what you know, but don't over do it. Save some of your talent for later."

Brutus finishes, "Lastly, and most importantly, don't kill anyone."

"No promises," Clove mutters, and I know we are thinking about the same person. Clove continues eating, everyone else looks at me for an explanation, and all I tell them is, "The girl from Twelve." They all nod in understanding.

Enobaria tries to settle Clove down, but just by her talking it makes it worse, since she is so damn scary, "Clove, you will get your chance to slit her throat," she smiles evilly, probably thinking back to her Hunger Games, she continues, "but just play nice and find out what her weaknesses are so you can give Panem a good show."

Clove is still not happy. Clove grabs her knife and stabs it into the table, probably thinking that it was a good way to get out her anger, when really all it did was ruin a nice mahogany table. An Avox comes by quietly, even though they don't really have a choice, and carefully wedges the knife out from the table and takes it away.

Athena then speaks to Clove, "Clove, darling," Clove glares at Athena, "you really should be more polite, and less harsh, at least until the games begin." I smile at Clove, she gives me a death glare, and I say mockingly: "Manners, Clove."

"Well you want to kill her, too!"

I answer, "Oh, I do, and I will, but I got my fill for now. I had a little encounter with her last night down at the Tribute Lunchroom"

Clove asks excitedly, "What did you do to her?"

Lyme also asks more skeptically, "Yes, what did you do?" That brought me back to reality, reminding me that our mentors were there and I don't want them to know about my encounter with Everdeen. All I do is look down at my plate.

Clove makes it worse by sneering and asking, "What did you make out with her last night or something like that?"

For some reason that makes me snap, "Clove, you are such a fucking bitch and I swear once we get in the area there is not a chance that I will give you any mercy as I slowly kill you!" I get up and storm out of the room, leaving everyone speechless. I get ready and go down to the training center all by myself.

I take a look at the tributes. Athena was right, they are all pathetic, even the ones from District One. The blond girl from One looks back at me and winks seductively; I glare at her, wanting to kill her already. I look away and I see something that might just have the power to kill me; the boy from 11, he is larger than me and is possibly stronger, but I will still beat him, because we all know I have had the best and longest training out of all of them. I then look at Everdeen and the boy from her district, Peeta, who apparently bakes. Everdeen looks at me, but she doesn't wink like the slut from One, she rubs her wrist remembering our "chat". I give her a smile, but she looks down at the ground.

They finally release us to do what we want; I go right over to where all the swords are kept. I start slashing at the dummies that surround me, killing every one of them ten times over. I stop and take a break to do some climbing, just to prove I am better than everyone else, which I easily do.

I walk over to Clove to see how she is doing, she is sitting down drinking some water, taking a break. I sit down next to her, "So how's it going? By the way I'm, um, sorry for blowing up at you this morning," I say to her.

She waves it off and says looking at Everdeen, "I just don't get it, she has been so careful to not use any weapons! I mean look at her now, she is just tying stupid rope! I don't get it! Is she just that lame?" Clove answers her own question before I can, "No, she's not, she is just hiding something and so is that boy from her district."

I tell her, "Well, I am guessing if we can get bread boy to show us what he can do, we can get Everdeen to show us, but let's just work on one first." Clove nods and we head over to where both the idiots from District One are, and we tell them the plan.

We stand there together and watch him as he fails at almost everything physical. He then walks over to Everdeen, and they talk for awhile. Everdeen looks up from her conversation with Peeta and looks directly at me. She starts to walk in my direction, and I hold my ground.

"I know what you are trying to do, Cato, and it isn't going to work."

"I don't know what you are talking about," I say innocently with a smirk.

She looks at me, her eyes like rocks, "I don't have any special talents, and neither does Peeta. District Twelve never does; I thought you would know that."

Before I have time to think about what to say, I blurt out, "But you're different...you're special."

There is a silence; Katniss just looks at me, no emotions. Clove on the other hand is rolling on the floor laughing her ass off, remembering the conversation we had at breakfast, both me and Katniss ignore her.

Everdeen says, without emotion, "Cato, both you and I know that it's not true."

I was about to answer when I heard an announcement, "Great training this morning!" I look over to see that Everdeen has left and is back with bakery boy, "Now it's time for lunch, so please make way to the Tribute Lunch room, and we will be continuing the training at 1:30 sharp."

Everyone files out of the Training Center and Everdeen disappears with the crowd.


	4. The roof

**AN: Sorry for not posting this chapter sooner I was really working to edit it. Chapter 4 and 5 (which will come as soon as possible) are my favorites so far out of the 6 that I have written. Thanks for your support and comments!**

I sit down at the dinner table after our long first day of the unnecessary training that we have to go through. Clove is still in her room, and Athena gets up to try and get her out so we can have a dinner together- which I really don't care for one bit.

"Do we really have to wait for Clove to eat?" I ask the mentors.

"Yes, we do. All the tributes, mentors, and even Escorts from all the districts always eat together, even the ones from Twelve. Although I doubt they even know how to eat with a spoon, when I was in Twelve all I saw was broken people in broken houses that had a layer of coal dust covering everything. There was absolutely nothing green, nothing green at all, except for the forest that surrounds it." Brutus says.

"So why do they get the pent house then? It's just unfair, they don't deserve it!" I say.

Lyme answers, "Well might as well let them live large before they die. That is probably why they also get the private roof." Lyme automatically realizes that she made a huge mistake by saying that last comment about the roof.

I ask slowly, "They have the only access to the roof?"

Lyme and Brutus look to Enobaria for help so she sighs and tells me, "Yes they do, but you would have to break into their floor and find the door to the roof, and if anyone catches you the game makers will be notified and they will be told to make sure that you don't win, so don't even think about going there!"

Clove arrives with Athena practically dragging her and they sit down, then we all start to eat. I eat quietly, thinking about the roof, thinking about the consequences if I get caught and is it worth is to just possibly scare the shit out of Everdeen if she see's that I got up there without anything happening.

I will go at midnight.

I push off my covers and put on some jeans and a t-shirt. I slowly open the door hoping not to awaken Clove, who has a room right next to mine, or any of the mentors who all have rooms across from mine. I slip out of my room and creep down the hallway to make sure that I don't wake anyone up.

I get into the elevator and my finger hovers over the District 12 button, but I stop and question myself. _What if I get caught, would that ruin my chance of winning? What if there are cameras, to make sure no one sneaks up to the roof?_ I take a deep breath and press a button.

The doors open to the Training Center and I slip inside. I couldn't do it, not yet, so I just went down to the Training Center to get out all of my emotions. It's fairly light without the lights on, so I don't bother turning them on. I walk over to where the swords are. I run my left hand across the blade. I bring back my hand and see that it is cut right open. I take off my shirt and wrap it around my hand and continue my journey of training.

I grab the sword with the blood on it with my right hand. I take a couple swings around, and then I walk over to the dummies. I close my eyes for a second and get myself ready. I take a swing at the three dummies with one hand. The first one I cut off its arm then its leg. I vertically slice off the second one's head and it lands on the floor with a _thump_. Then I use all my force that I can muster to dig my sword into the last one's "heart".

I admire the damage I did to the dummies, imagining that they were people. I drop the sword that still has blood on it onto the floor and kneel down next to it. Rubbing my forehead with my good hand, trying to get that image of the people I have killed out of my head.

"I don't know if I should be more impressed with your swordsmanship or you shirtless."

I don't look up, I know who it is, that voice has become so familiar to me, "Well, that's really up to you do decide, but I have a feeling you are going to say both."

"Before I answer do you want to explain why you don't have a shirt on?"

I look down at my hand and say, "I cut my hand on the sword and I didn't have a towel or bandage so I just used my shirt, which should also explain why I was using one hand with the sword."

I hear the footsteps get closer to me. I look up; she kneels down next to me and her grey eyes. It's also the first time I see her hair down instead of in the side braid; it flows down her back and frames her face perfectly. I look back to the ground to avoid her stern gaze. She grabs my hand and I pull it away.

I take the chance and I look at her, glaring, "What was that for?"

"Okay, sorry for trying to help."

"Why the hell would you want to help me?"

"I don't know! I might as well just let you bleed to death!" Everdeen gets up and starts to walk away.

"...Why were you here anyways?" I don't know why I asked her that when she was about to leave, and I was about to be alone. She stopped and turned towards me, but she doesn't say anything. I stand up and take a few steps towards her. Her jaw clenched and I can tell me being this close to her and probably me having no shirt on makes me have so much more power over her. I'm going to have fun with this. I flash her one of my winning smiles, and I step up right in front of her.

"Cato, stop," She hisses, and tries to push me away. Her hand is on my chest, but she doesn't pull it away.

"What? You like what you see?"

She rolls her eyes and takes away her hand, "Why the sudden interest in me, Cato?" She shows no emotions on her face, nothing for me to know how she is feeling. Her grey eyes bore a hole into me.

"It isn't just a sudden interest Everdeen, you caught my eye the minute you volunteered for you sister." I put my hand right in the crook between her neck and shoulder. She just looks at me and doesn't even try to move my hand. I grin.

Everdeen says, "I know you are just trying to figure out what my talent is, but it's not going to work."

"You are smarter than I give you credit for, Everdeen, but what if you are being attacked and you have the choice of one weapon? I know you would pick the one you have most skill with, because, well, I will say it again, you are smart." She gives me a weird look like she knows what I am planning. Before she can act I pick up my sword that is lying on the ground and swing it around a couple of times to get my grip right.

"You wouldn't!" She says her eyes wide open.

"Darling, you and I both know that I would. So I would suggest that you pick up a weapon in the next 20 seconds or you will be cut up into tiny pieces."

She glares at me, but starts to walk; she looks around the Center, pondering her options.

"1...2...3...4...5..."

She walks past the spears and the swords, and starts to walk in the direction of the knives, but walks past them.

"10...11...12...13..."

She glares at me again and I can tell all she wants me to do is shut up but I continue.

"16...17...18...19..."

Right then there is a loud noise at the door and Everdeen and I both look at each other then at the door. I drop my sword as I turn to Everdeen; she is just looking at the door. The door which I didn't think was locked or jammed opened finally.

"Who is in here? Answer and no harm will come to you!" I saw the white Peacekeeper uniform and I quickly jogged over to Everdeen and grabbed her hand.

"I hope you can run fast, fire girl, because we are going for a little jog. Just keep your head down so they don't recognize you." She silently nodded in agreement.

We took off full force, with our heads lowered. We ran past the Peacekeepers. Everdeen was fast, but I could match her speed. Everdeen looked over at me her eyes filled with panic, "Where should we go?" I realize why she is so panicked now.

"Shit...um...the roof!" This does not settle her down, if anything it makes her even more panicked, but I can see in her eyes that she is considering it.

"Fine!" We run into the Elevator and she hits "12", and the doors shut.

"That was close; do you think they saw us?" Katniss asks, out of breath.

"Well if they did, the last place they will look is the roof." She nods as the doors open to the District 12 floor.

A strong male voice makes me jump, "Well Sweetheart, where have you been? Oh, who is this with you?" It's her mentor, Haymitch, that talks. It's then that I realize that we are still holding hands, and I am still shirtless.


	5. the roof 2

**AN: Chapter 5 and 4 used to be connected but I separated them because it would have been a really long chapter. Chapter 4 and 5 are totally my favorite that I have writen so far. It might take me a while to get chapter 6 up but I have it written but it needs A LOT of work. Thanks for all of your support and if you have any ideas that you might like to see in the future feel free to tell me, I would really appreciate having your opinion.**

I quickly release her hand and keep my head down, hoping that somehow Haymitch would not recognize me; I glance to Katniss to tell her that she is the one that needs to talk.

"Um...Haymitch...I was in training...and he...we..." Katniss stumbled through her words. She looked at the ground trying to think what to say. The next thing I know Haymitch collapses on a nearby couch. The odds are definitely in our favor because he is dead to the world; he's too drunk to remember any of this by the morning.

I smile as I look at the mentor remembering all the parties back home, the way my friends and I got wasted and flopped onto the couch muttering random shit that had no meaning to any of us.

Katniss just glares at him with fury in her eyes and then looks to me, "Come on we should get to the roof so if the Peacekeepers check this floor they won't suspect a thing." I start to ask what we should do with Haymitch but she interrupts, "I will deal with him in the morning, just come!"

We quietly walk over to a door on the far side of the room and she opens it soundlessly. We climb the dark stairwell to open the door to the roof.

The roof is green and lush. You can see the rush of the Capitol even at two in the morning; it truly is the _"District that never sleeps"_. I turn in a circle, taking in the roof; it has more green in it than all of District 2. I walk over to the ledge and look down at all the crazy Capitol people in their insane clothes. Her solid voice makes me jump, "You can't leap off the building, there is a force field surrounding the roof, it won't let you fall."

I stay looking down at the city below, "I wasn't planning on it, and right now I am more worried about bleeding to death." I hold up my hand that it still wrapped up in my shirt.

"Oh, yeah, I almost forgot, let me run down and grab something quick." Before I could tell her that she didn't have to help me I hear the door click. I turn around to see that I am alone. I walk over to the door and put my hand on the handle to go and follow her but a gray flower catches my eye.

I kneel down next to it and involuntarily move to touch its soft petals. Grey petals with blood red veins pulsing through it. The flowers stem is not green, it's a dark shade of grey, and its leaves are a deep brown-red. I lean down and smell the flower and it smells like one thing; home.

It makes me realize how much I miss the daily routine that I had back home. First I got up and ate breakfast, then I went to the Academy and my parents went to work; my Father as a Peacekeeper and my Mother at the Town Hall. When I got home I have the house to myself until 8:00 when my parents come home and I leave the house to be away from them. I would go off and wander around the district.

"It's amazing how delicate you look next to a flower, with your shirt off, and when you're bleeding to death." I didn't hear the door open, or footsteps, so her sarcastic voice startles me and the flower in my hand nearly gets crushed.

"How long have you been standing there?" I ask.

"A while, what is that flower?"

"It's a Bloodrock, we have then back home, they are about the only flower in District 2, the rest of the District is mainly just rock, which I'm guessing is where it got its name."

"Well it's beautiful," she admits softly, studying the flower as if trying to memorize exactly what it looks like. She seems like the person who knows nature so I ask, "What kind of plants do they have in 12? Do they even have a woods area?"

She swallows and looks at me expressionless but I can tell she is thinking. She shakes her head but I don't believe her, I would say something but she beats me to it, "I got you some medicine and a bandage for your hand. From the looks of it, that kind of cut is not unusual to you."

I am not sure if it's the first time she realized or if it is the first time that she acknowledged all the scars that pattern, my arms, hands, chest, and back. All of the scars are from my training, when you are working with a teacher they purposely try and cut you to make you stronger. I have gotten so used to the pain, but also the way that my body looks with all the scrapes and scars. I don't bother explaining it all to her or ask her the question again, so I stand up and take the medicine from her. I unwrap my hand to see that the cut is still bleeding and my shirt is stained red. I put the medicine on my hand and take the bandage from her and wrap my hand up in it.

"So you can put your shirt on now." she says.

"Oh, don't act like you want me to put on my shirt, and plus," I hold up my blood dripping shirt, "I don't really want to put it on when it is like this." Katniss grabs the shirt out of my hand and lays it out on the ground next to a bench. She sits down on the bench and looks out to the district. I slowly walk over to her and sit down right next to her. I think of what to say, I'm not really good with the whole "empathetic" scene.

"What's the matter Katniss?"

"Wow, I didn't know you actually knew my name," she scoffed.

I roll my eyes at her, "No, seriously, what's up?"

"Nothing." Before I realize what I'm doing my arm was around Katniss and she looks up at me. "The least you could do is put on some deodorant!" she laughs at me.

"What you don't like the smell of a man?"

"Cato, you're not a man, you're just an immature boy." She smiles again. Her smile is beautiful and her laugh is like a light song ringing through my ears. I shake it off. I suddenly find myself wondering why I am so comfortable with her. I am about to say something but I hear the door open.

"Katniss? Are you up here?"

I look to her and her face is solid, she whispers so only I can hear, "Peeta… quick go hide somewhere I don't want him to see you!"

"What? It's not like we were hooking up or anything!" She gives me a death glare, so I grin and get up. I hide behind a bush so I can still see them through the leaves but it would be hard for Peeta to see me.

Katniss starts the conversation, "Peeta! Hi, um, what are you doing here?"

"Well, Effie got up at 2:30 to do her hair and makeup, like usual, when she saw Haymitch passed out on the couch. So, she started screaming at him to get up and how he promised us to stay sober," So that's why Katniss was not as worried about him seeing me and more angry with him about being drunk, "and that woke me up, I was surprised to not see you out there trying to kill Haymitch so I looked into your room and you weren't there. So I went back to where Haymitch and Effie were then...umm...never mind."

She looks nervous but her voice doesn't shake, "'Then...umm...' what? Tell me."

"Then he started muttering stuff about seeing you sneak in with some guy." I hold back a burst of laughter, and I see Katniss take a glance in my direction; I snicker wondering what she is going to say. She keeps her eyes focused on where I am, "Well, he is drunk, he is just making stuff up, he probably saw me get up and come out here."

"Yeah, probably. Why are you out here anyways?"

"I couldn't sleep; thinking of home." She looks back at him.

Peeta smiles at her and says, "Yeah I was thinking of home too, but you will be back soon."

It's the look in his eyes that gives it away; it's plain as day and I feel stupid that I couldn't see it before. I realize that Katniss is too driven to realize how much he cares about her. Suddenly I get a genius plan. I ponder how I am going to go about it. I come to a conclusion that is fool proof, even someone like Everdeen can't mess it up.

When Peeta turns his back towards me I stand up and lean against a wall near by them. I watch in amusement as Katniss' eyes stare at me as she tries to hide her every emotion, yet try and tell me to go back into hiding. I just smile at her and say, "Hey, Peeta." The sound of my voice makes him jump. He turns sharply and stands in front of her like he already knew my plan. I start to walk towards them.

"Peeta, you don't need to protect her she knows that I would never hurt her."

Katniss speaks up from behind him, "You would hurt me, because you have! You pushed me against a wall and bruised my wrist, and just an hour ago you held a sword up to me chest and gave me 20 seconds to pick a weapon before you cut me to little pieces!" I didn't plan for her to explain all of that, but when I see Bread Boy's jaw clench, I just smile realizing that my plan is going better then I thought it would.

"You're right, Everdeen." She scowls at me because I went back to her nick name.

"Back off!" Peeta speaks up.

"I'm sorry! Am I making you...angry?" I see Katniss's eyes grow big and I know she has realized what I am doing.

"Peeta, whatever you do don't-" I push Peeta out of the way and cover her mouth with my hand, so he doesn't know what she is about to say.

"Now, darling, we don't want to tell him that." She glares at me with her stone eyes. I give her one of my winning smiles. She tries to remove my hand but she trips and falls to the ground. I pin down her arms so she can't move. She turns her head towards Peeta and says, "Peeta don't-" I didn't think she would try again to tell him not to show his specialty, so I do the first thing that came to mind: I kiss her. She struggles a little at first but then she calms and accepts it. Suddenly, I don't hear Peeta's angry breathing. The birds' chirps are gone. All I feel is her soft lips against mine. I loosen my grip on her arms.

The world starts to come back as I look down at her face. I don't know if it is a trick of the eye or not but it seems as if she smiles. I forget everything I had planned until the strong grip on my shoulder brings me back to reality. I feel a strong shove that pushes me onto my back. I look up to see Peeta standing over me.

I sit up to say, "Oh, come on just punch me! I know you want to." I turn my head and look at Katniss and smile because I know he would never do anything like that. I hear the skin on skin contact, and then the pain set it. As I slowly stand up I feel the familiar sting.

"You gotta be fucking kidding me."

"Well don't act surprised, you told me to!" I did tell him to, but none of us thought he actually would, so I punch him back harder and in the stomach.

"What the fuck are you two doing?" Katniss yells at both of us.

"Stay out of this!" Peeta says back. Both Katniss and I are surprised but I smile slightly, almost proud of him for saying that and taking a stand against her. Sadly she catches me smiling and she slaps me, her nails scratching my face as her hand crosses my face.

"You bitch!" I push her against a wall. Peeta then pushes me off of her and I land on my back, hard. I groan, and close my eyes. When I open my eyes again everything suddenly looks fuzzy and I can't focus on any object. I feel someone touch hand and pain shoots through my body.

"Cato! Cato...come on Peeta you have to help!"

"Why should I? He doesn't deserve help."

"He is bleeding, please! I don't really want to help him either but we will get in so much more trouble if we don't."

"Fine, I will go down to the floor and make sure that no one is there. Bring him down in a minute."

I feel myself stand up, and then everything goes black.


	6. Mentors

**AN: I would just like to thank a few people; notbuilt4925, Courtney DiLaurentis, beautiful fury, and soccerstar4242, also ever one who has reviewed or followed my story. I am very sorry that I took awhile to get this chapter up. Please read and review thanks! :) I hope you like it.**

My eyes slowly open. I see Clove sitting on my bed. I sit up, "How the fuck did I get here?" The whole room starts swaying so I lay back down.

"I don't know what happened so don't ask me! They just told me to wake you up so when I opened the door I saw you passed out and blood all over your sheets and you all black and blue with scrapes on your face. So, since I can't tell you how you got here I'm guessing you can tell me what happened before this point?"

I look at her trying to process what she has just told me and connect it to what I remember. Everything is fuzzy. The more I think about it the more clear it becomes and the more my head hurts. I am about to say something when I hear, "Cato? Clove? Come out to breakfast you don't want to be late to training!"

I look at Clove and see that a devilish grin has grown across her face, nerves shoot through all of my body.

"Help me, please." If the mentors or Athena see me like this they will be so mad they may as well just kill me now.

Clove smiles and says, "I'm really hungry I will meet you out there." She winks and gets up, swiftly leaves my room. I'm left alone.

I slowly get myself out of bed. I look at my mess of a bed and see that it was painted red. I tear off the sheets and throw them on the ground so that the Avox know that they need to be washed. I go into the bathroom and stop in front of the mirror. I slowly move my head back and forth looking over my bruises and cuts. I smile. I turn so I can see my back in the mirror and see that it too has multiple bruises from being thrown on the ground. I take a shower, quickly get dressed. I take a deep breath and head out to breakfast.

As I pull out my chair and sit down everyone is looking at me. I pick up my fork and start to eat, hoping that no one says anything.

"What the hell happened to you?" Brutus finally asks.

"Oh, well, I tried to do my own makeup but it didn't really work out," I scoff.

I look up to see all the adults staring at me emotionless and Clove laughing her ass off.

Enobaria sighs, "Seriously what kind of trouble did you get into? Because a couple of Peacekeepers came up here last night looking for two people and asked if you and Clove were here, so I looked into both yours and Clove's room and Clove was there sleeping but you weren't! I covered for you, but you have to tell us where you were."

"I was in the Training Center," I decided not to lie, "and I cut my hand on the sword," I hold up my hand to show the deep wound, "So I went around looking for some medicine." I didn't lie, I just didn't tell the full truth.

"I still have three more questions. One; why were they looking for you? Two; why were they looking for a second person, a female to be exact? Lastly; why are you all beat up if you only cut your hand?"

I look around the table unsure if I should tell them or not. I think about all the pros and cons and realize I have nothing to lose "Okay, fine, I wasn't completely honest with you. I did go down to the training center, but I immediately cut my hand, but I just rapped up and continued to train. Then Katniss came in."

I stop to see what their faces are like, the mentors are staring at me, Athena looks disappointed in me, and Clove looks really interested in my story, "I was trying to figure out her specially when about five Peacekeepers came in, so we just ran. We went up to the roof, to hide because we knew they would be after us and we also knew they wouldn't check the roof. We started talking and she got medicine and a bandage for my hand and then we talked some more. After that Peeta, her District partner came up and I wanted to know his specialty and I realized he would do anything for Everdeen." I hesitate, thinking about the kiss, I leave it out of the story, "So Peeta and I got in a little fight...but I found out what his specialty is!"

"What is it?" Clove eagerly asks.

"That is beside the point!" Lyme interjects, "Cato, what you did is unacceptable!" There is a long pause as people think about what to say.

"What I don't get," Enobaria says, "is why didn't the two of you just go back to your rooms and pretend to be asleep while the Peacekeepers looked for you? Why did you have to be together?" I know what she is hinting at, and I don't want to answer. I get up and go to the elevator and say without looking at them, "I'm going to head down to training I don't want to be late."

*HG*

At training, I look at Everdeen, then at Loverboy. I watch as they work and see that Loverboy is walking stiffly. Everdeen on the other hand glances at me every now and then, and then looks at Peeta.

Glimmer, the girl from One, keeps coming up to me and trying to talk to me. I keep trying to push her away but she doesn't get the hint one bit. She keeps putting her hand on my back to get my attention but the bruises decorating my back don't appreciate the contact. I try to walk away from her, so she shuts up and stops touching me. It doesn't work, Glimmer continues to follow me. I look up to see Everdeen laughing at my failed attempt to get rid of Glimmer. I glare at 12 resisting the urge to go over there.

Glimmer continues to push on, "Cato, why do you keep looking at the loser girl from 12 and not at me?"

"I keep looking at 12 to find out her specialty, and my eyes can't really handle looking at you." I tell her.

"Is it because I'm so pretty?" She smiles at me stepping closer.

I look at her like she is the stupidest thing alive, because she is. "No, the opposite." She looks startled at first but then she laughs a really annoying flirtatious laugh, "Oh Cato you're so funny." She touches my arm but I flick away her hand.

I hear Everdeen laugh and I look up to see her watching Glimmer and I. I mouth to Everdeen "_Fuck you!_" She mouths back, _"Having fun?_" I flick her off but she just laughs.

Glimmers annoying voice breaks our conversation, "Is there something between you and 12?"

"First of all: stop bugging me; I am not in the mood. Secondly: no there is nothing between me and 12! So, fuck off!" Clove comes up from behind me, making is obvious that she was listening in, "Well actually 12 and him were cau-" I put my hand over her mouth to shut her up, but she bites me.

"Don't you have a deal with the mentors that you can't hurt me?" I say to Clove, as Glimmer leaves angrily.

"I have told you before; my deal with the mentors is that I can't kill you! I just bite you because you put your dirty hand on my mouth, and since you are breathing I'm guessing you're still alive."

I walk away to where the knives are; I stop. _Where is it, where is _MY_ knife? _Then I hear the familiar sing song laughter that could bring me to my knees. I sharply turn to face her. She stops laughing as I walk towards her.

"Where is my knife 12?"

"I don't have your knife Cato." She looks at me and I sense that she isn't lying.

"Then where _is_ it?"

Her eyes start wondering around the room, "I don't know."

"Bullshit Everdeen, you know who took my knife and you are going to tell me." I take a step towards her and she takes a step back. I then feel someone behind me, I turn expecting to see bread boy but instead I am face to face with the boy from 11. I am close to his height and muscle mass, but as much as I hate to admit it, he has more of both.

"What did you take my knife?" I say to him.

He stakes his head, "Boy from 6" is all he says, and he crosses his arms. I push past him to 6. I start cussing him out and yelling at him to give me back my knife. The kids looks like he is on the brink of tears as I get dragged away by the Peacekeepers. As I am getting dragged I look and see Everdeen and 11 laughing and looking up at the ceiling. As they get my out the doors I see what they are looking at; the little girl from 11 has my knife.

*HG*

After my fight they sent me up to my room, and the mentors had me on detention for the night. I fall asleep thinking about what I'm going to do to little 11. I don't sleep long before I wake up again. I hear people talking outside of my room, so I get out of bed and head down the hall. I hide behind a pillar so no one can see me.

"...I don't know, something is just different."

"I just don't think it would be good for them to get involved with each other!"

"I don't see why it is so bad; one of them is going to die. Plus they are just kids, and we don't know for sure what is going on between the two of them."

I take a chance and sneak a look at the discussion that is taking place. I see Brutus and Enobaria both glaring at each other, I realize now that they were the ones talking. I also see Lyme seated at the end of the table playing with a glass, obviously she is just letting them yell at each other. I continue to listen to their conversion trying to make sense of it, although I already have a clue on what they are talking about.

Enobaria talks, "Yes, one of them is going to die, and hopefully it will be her, and he will win, but you have seen what happened to Haymitch, her mentor, he lost a love when he was in the games! He was a great fighter, but now he constantly drinks, and you saw him; he fell off the stage at this year's reaping. Haymitch is just one of the people, and what about Finnick Odair? Finnick is a close friend of ours, and we were all there when Annie was put into the games, yes she got out, but she didn't get out of the games the same person she used to be."

Brutus pauses before saying something in response. We all know that is true, we all know the games have done horrible things to people. I jump at Brutus's voice, "We don't know if there is something between Cato and Katniss. You have heard him and Clove talk about ways to kill her. Even the look in his eyes is pure hate, he is not stupid, and I have talked with Cato before these games. They sent him to me because of the promise that he had, and he was only ten, he had been in the Academy only four years. After only four years they already had him programmed to kill, and he still had eight more years there. I don't think we have to worry about him going soft for some pathetic girl from District Twelve!"

I want to just jump out of the window. They don't know me, and they are already debating my lack of a love life, and how I have been "programmed", whatever that means.

Lyme starts giggling. The giggling turns into laughter. I look around the pole Brutus and Enobaria look puzzled, but before they can say anything Lyme explains, "You really think that Katniss is pathetic? Are you seriously that blind? Are Cato and I the only ones who see it? The way she walks? The determination in her eyes? She started something... something... dangerous the minute she volunteered for her sister. And how could you forget her costume at the Parade? She is something special, something that Panem has needed for a while. She has a talent that she is just hiding."

I can't take it anymore. I walk out into the room and don't make eye contact with them; I just keep my eyes set on the window across the room.

"Cato," Brutus says with a slightly shaky voice, I stop, but don't look at them, "How long have you been there?"

"Long enough to know what this whole meeting was about..." I try to keep my voice stable, but it fades out at the end, and I don't know why.

Everyone else is quiet but Brutus continues to ask questions "Are you going to the roof to meet with her?"

"No!" I say loudly staring at them, "Are you guys seriously having a meeting about _my_ love life? Isn't it bad enough that I am going on live television to kill kids?" I stop. It's the first time I actually realize what the games are. I look at my mentors; they are not only mentors but Victors, people who have won these games. People who have realized a long time ago what the games really are.

I hear Brutus voice in my head _"After only four years they already had him programmed to kill..." _

It can't be true, it just can't be. I was taught that the Games were a way to show your strength, courage, and honor. The reaping was a happy event, and the outer Districts, like 12 and 11, were frowned upon because of their dislike for it.

It can't be true.

It can't be.

It can't.

I shake it off and say, "I'm...I'm just going to go to bed now. Please try and keep it down" I turn and walk back to my room, and fall asleep.

*HG*

The next day in training, I look around for little 11 but I don't see her anywhere. I'm guessing she is just hiding from me, which is a good idea.

I go over to the swords and everyone is watching me as I let my anger flow through my sword and slice down the dummies head. The conversation the Mentors had comes back to me full force.

Programmed to kill? Fuck no! I was born to kill. I was born to win. I put away my sword and walk over to the hand and hand combat and get in line behind 11, I ponder asking him where his partner is but then he goes up for his training. I watch as he easily takes down the trainer. He walks off and he glances at me. He gives me a smirk, so I glare back at him.

I get ready to fight. I throw some punches and block some of his with ease. We continue with the fight but I am not trying that hard. My eyes wander behind the trainer to where Everdeen is. I see her not looking at me but at a weapon, a bow and arrow. Since I am distracted the trainer punches me in the face right where Peeta had punched me not long ago, and I stumble backward.

The trainer says, "Come on you have to stay foc-" I kick him in the stomach and he falls down onto the floor. I walk off and over to Everdeen.

"I saw that!" I proclaim

"Saw what? You really should be a little more specific."

"I saw you gazing longingly at the bow and arrows." I say semi-mockingly

Katniss says laughing, "Cato, you are going insane! You keep accusing me of things I didn't do! Did you bump your head on something when Peeta beat you up?"

I hear snickering behind me, I turn to see Clove. "Why do you keep following me? Go follow Marvel around or someone else!" I yell at her.

"If I didn't have to I wouldn't follow you around then I wouldn't!" Her face then looks shocked, like she told me something that she wasn't supposed to. I turn back to Everdeen and see that she had left and went to another place away from me, so I focus my energy back at Clove.

"What did you say? You _have_ to follow me?" I step close to her, so I look even bigger and more intimidating which is something that I learned to do at the Academy.

"Fuck it, I will just tell you!" She said without even thinking if she should actually tell me or not, "Brutus, Enobaria, and Lyme cornered me and told me to follow you around. They also said that if you talk to 12 to report back to them _every _word that you said."

"_Every_ word that I said?" I say getting an idea. Clove looks at me but I continue to clarify, "We could have some fun with this." She gives me an evil smile of understanding.

For the rest of training, we plan


	7. Lyme

**AN: I am sorry I have not updated sooner. Lyme is an important character in this chapter and if you don't remember her from the books it may help if I gave you some quick info; She doesn't show up until Mockingjay, ****Lyme is part of the Rebellion, she helps with the rebellion in district 2 when Gale comes up with the plan to destroy the mountain/ "Nut". Hope you like this chapter, and please review! :)**

I sit on my bed staring at the door, waiting for Clove to knock. She doesn't knock, but instead bursts into the room with wide eyes. "They are really pissed off. They told me to come in here and get you! As much as I hate you, you still would be an amazing ally so don't die on me." With that she leaves.

I get up and open the door and walk out. I walk down the hall starting to believe that this was not the best idea, I see Clove waiting for her moment in the plan. She gives me a nervous smile but I just turn back to where the Mentors are and continue down the hall.

Once I get into the room I see that the mentors are holding back so much anger I try really hard not to smile.

"Sit down Cato." Brutus says strongly. I obediently sit down in the chair farthest from them. "Cato we have been informed by an...anonymous source," He paused glancing in the direction of Clove's room, "That, you had some ideas about allies."

I take a look around the table before I talk, "I am not sure if I know what you are talking about."

"Cato don't act stupid!" Enobaria slams her hand on the table, "We know that you have been talking with 12 and you are planning to add them as allies!"

I don't say anything I just look at the three of them.

"Damn it Cato, talk to us! We are your mentors and we know best so you better start talking, boy!" Brutus yells.

"Okay," Is all I say. They wait a while to see if I say more, but I don't.

"Stop being a dumbass, Cato!" Enobaria, snarls through her altered teeth. A shiver shoots down my spine and I hope that none of them see.

Lyme smiles amused so I take the chance and I rest my head on my hand. I stare at Lyme who hasn't said a word. I let out a deep breath just to piss them off more.

"You're going to make District 2 a laughing stock and get both you and Clove killed! You can't ally with 12!" Enobaria yells at me. I keep my eye set on Lyme waiting for her to yell at me, but she stays calm and quiet.

"I'm a big boy I can make my own choices." is all I say.

"I'm sorry Cato," Clove enters, "but I agree with the Mentors. Our plan was to win, they could ruin that! Plus you are already stupid enough I don't think we can risk taking any more chances." I glare at Clove for the insult.

Brutus gives Clove a weird look but continues, "We already have you teamed up with District 1 and 4 we don't really want that many more people as Careers."

"Can I say something," Lyme asks clearing her throat, "I don't think it's that bad of an idea." We all look at Lyme; stunned. I get that old feeling again that I should kill her, "Cato knows what Peeta's specialty is and both Cato and I know that Katniss has something she is hiding. I think it's a good idea." Brutus and Enobaria look at her wide eyed, Clove looks like she is about to faint.

I can't stand it anymore, I push back my chair and stand up, yelling at Lyme, "Are you crazy? What is wrong with you because I can't figure it out! Nothing adds up with you! Why in the world would I team up with 12, Breadboy is a moron and Everdeen is a bitch!" I turn to Brutus and continue my rant, "Just for your information, both of the District 1 tributes know nothing, they suck at everything. I will allow District 4 just because they will make a good human shield!"

Clove laughs, "Yeah, Glimmer and Marvel are hopeless."

"Wait, what is going on?" Brutus asks obviously very confused. I sit back down and putting my head on the table trying to control my anger.

"You should have seen your faces!" Clove giggles, "We so got you! It took all that I had not to burst out in laughter." I look up to see the mentors still looking confused but I see that Lyme has gotten up and it staring out the window.

"Clove told me that you sent her to follow me and report back to you." I explain, looking at Lyme I can tell that she is listening but can't stand to look at me, "We decided to teach you a lesson, and we came up with this plan."

"What exactly is the lesson?" Lyme says still looking out the window.

"To not trust Clove with anything." A pillow comes flying my way and I look to Clove who is trying not to laugh but isn't doing the best. "No, it's to stay out of my business because no matter what you think you know; you don't know anything."

"Exactly!" Lyme turns to me glaring, she then leaves and goes to her room. We listen as her door slams shut, closing her in. I close my eyes and take a deep breath.

"Well that was fun." Brutus finally says. I look and see the remaining mentors looking exhausted. Clove is leaning against the wall studying her knife.

"Well we got the both of you here," Brutus continues, "I think it is a good time to tell you _our_ plan that should probably go in action sooner than later." Clove and I still aren't really paying attention.

Enobaria notices our boredom so she speaks up, "It will help you get sponsors." Clove and I snap to attention. Enobaria slowly walks over to me, obviously enjoying the attention that we are finally giving her. She walks behind me and puts her hand on my shoulder, "Well Cato since you seem to be not interested in 12 then you will probably love this plan." She keeps her hand on my shoulder, but looks to Clove, "Clove, dear, can you come over here?" Clove carefully walks over to me, Enobaria puts her other hand on Cloves back, "You two need to stop fighting as much, especially in public, so you will be 'in love' with each other. Panem will go crazy for the two you." Brutus smiles in agreement.

"What?" I say looking up at Enobaria, then at Brutus, then at Clove hoping she has one of her tantrums.

"I think it might work." Clove sounds almost happy.

"Are you guys crazy? I am 18! I am the most prepared Tribute Panem has ever seen! I am not going to act like I am in love with a 15 year old!"

"But you will act like you're in love with a 16 year old from District 12?" Enobaria pushes.

I get up and move to the elevator. As the doors open I hear Brutus ask, "Think about it, Cato?" I don't answer I just press the button to close the doors between us. The last thing I see is Clove looking at her feet.

As I open the door to the training center and all the lights are off other than a single light that frames a target. Every thought goes out of my mind when I realize that I'm not alone. I hear the release of the bow echoing through the seemingly empty room. Then I see the arrow land right in the middle of the target; it's a perfect shot.

I try to quietly close the door but it closes a lot louder than I anticipated. The person in the room drops the bow and arrow. I turn on the light and run to where the bow and arrow are. I bend down to pick up the bow, but I hear the door behind me loudly open. I turn to see the door slowly closing but no one there.

I start to sprint out the door hoping to catch the person who made that shot.


	8. The plan

**AN: Sorry it has taken me so long to update! I am really sorry to say that the next chapter will probably take even longer but I will try all that I can to get it done. I hope you enjoy this chapter though :) Also shout out to Beautiful Fury who gave me this amazing idea! Enjoy.**

I run out of the training center in pursuit of the archer. When I get to where the elevators are I see that the doors are just about to close, I won't get there in time to stop it from closing, so I just freeze. This is _not_ my day.

I go over to the Career lunch table and sit down.

Be in love with Clove to get sponsors? It would never work. My mind drifts off to what just happened in the training center. Whoever made that shot is going to win; I have no doubt about it, unless I stop them. My mind keeps bouncing around and not wanting to stay still. Everything leaves my mind in an instant.

"_Deep in the meadow, under the willow_

_A bed of grass, a soft green pillow_

_Lay down your head, and close your sleepy eyes_

_And when again they open, the sun will rise."_

The voice sounds familiar but different, like nothing I have ever heard before but something that I have heard 100 times. I want to move so I can see who it is but I am afraid that if I do she will stop singing.

"_Here it's safe, here it's warm_

_Here the daisies guard you from every harm_

_Here your dreams are sweet and tomorrow brings them true_

_Here is the place where I love you."_

I take the chance, I turn my head slowly and see her stand there staring at me. She doesn't run away, she takes a brave step towards me but she does stop singing. I stand up to face her, "Wow, you can really sing Everdeen."  
"There is a lot you don't know about me."  
"I kind of figured that out." I smile, "Did you happen to see anyone come running out of the training center not too long ago, because there was someone in there who had a perfect shot with a bow and arrow." She shakes her head and looks at the ground.  
"I should probably get back up to my floor; I don't want Haymitch to yell at me."  
"I already got yelled at by my mentors, and then they come up with a plan to ruin my reputation." I say without even thinking about it.  
"What did they come up with?" She takes another step forwards.  
"They want me to be in love with Clove, they think it is a great way to get sponsors, but I think it is the stupidest idea in the world." She just looks at me nodding. I suddenly become aware of how close we are standing. I look at her and see her eyes not moving away when my eyes connect with hers. I then find myself putting my hand in the crook of her neck resisting the urge to kiss her. She doesn't move under my touch but she also doesn't say anything. Her eyes don't move from mine.  
I then become aware of the situation. I remove my hand quickly and add, "I should get going." I move past her, keeping my head down.  
"...Cato..." I hear her voice quietly trying to stop me. I keep my back towards her till the doors are closed between us.

*HG*

_We are so close, her hands on the back of my neck, my hands resting on her hip; our hearts beat with each other. Our foreheads touching, noses only a centimeter away. Her grey eyes bore into my blue ones. I whisper into her mouth, "I love you". She smiles at me. We both lean in, so close her lips grace mine so gently._

"CATO GET YOUR LAZY ASS OUT OF BED!"

I sit up straight as Enobaria's voice rips through my dream. I run my hands through my hair. I lie back on my pillow, and stare at the ceiling. _This can't be happening, It just can't_ I think to myself. I let it fill my mind as I roll out of my bed and get dressed then head out for breakfast. I sit down and put my head on my hand staring at my food.

"Cato are you going to eat or just stare at your food?" Brutus asks me.

"What? Oh sorry." I say.

"Well anyways we have decided that from your actions, we will go with the plan with or without your consent." I look up at Brutus wide eyed.

"What are you serious? No!" I manage to get out after a while.

"Yes Cato! Unless you have a good excuse?" He asks.

'_I love you'_ the Image comes strong and clear, "Well because... because I... I..." I stop talking realizing that I can't really tell them, "Can we at least just start off as close friends before we jump right into it?" Everyone nods in agreement.

We finish our meal in silence then Clove and I head down to training.

*HG*

Everyone's heads turn as Katniss and Peeta walk into training hand in hand, talking and laughing. Everyone watches as Peeta kisses her on the top of her head, I try to look away with no success. I continue to watch as Katniss gives him a hug and she smiles up at him.

Clove comes over to me and snarls into my ear, "What did you do?" It takes me a couple seconds to realize what she is asking but then I remember my conversation with Everdeen when I told her about the Mentors plans.

I walk over to where Everdeen and Loverboy are, "Can I borrow her for a second Loverboy?" I say grabbing her hand and dragging her out the door before he can say anything.

I bring her outside to a little patio area, the perimeter is lined with plants and in the middle is a fountain. "What the fuck are you doing?" I ask her. The calmness in my voice takes me back a little.

"You gave me a good plan and I used it. Plus I'm not that good at making friends and Peeta is so, I figured I couldn't lose."

"But-"

"Also you said the plan was stupid so I figured you weren't going to use it."

"No! My mentors are making me go threw with the plan because of my 'Actions'! So you have to stop."

"Stop? Hell no! It's your fault that you gave me the idea and only one of us can use this plan otherwise everyone will know it's not real" She looks at me.

"You know Peeta actually likes you right?" I finally ask.

"No, that's impossible; no one would ever like me!" She laughs. I look away not wanting to make eye contact.

I go over to the fountain and sit down on its edge. I keep my eyes focused on the ground. We stay silent for a while; the sound of water hitting water keeps a steady beat. I move my head to watch the ripples in the water. I put my hand in the cool water, letting it run through my fingers. I look back at Katniss when I hear her shift her weight, I can tell she is wondering whether she should sit down with me or leave to go with Peeta she finally decides, "I'm sorry Cato." and leaves me alone.

I don't want to go back to training so I stay out a while longer playing with the water and walking around looking at the plants. Finally I decide to go back; I take one last trip to the fountain and splash some water on my face then head back into meet Clove and tell her exactly what is going on.

I get in and glance over at Everdeen who is with Breadboy again. I look away and head over to Clove, "Where have you been?" She says with a smile, but I can tell its fake and only for the fake friendship we are supposed to have.

"Well," I start not even trying to play along with the friends plan, "Last night I ran into Everdeen and told her about the plan. I made it really clear to her that I didn't like the plan so she took it. When I just talked to her it doesn't sound like she will give it up."

Clove instantly loses the friend smile and says harshly, "Well you're telling the mentors." then walks away probably so she didn't kill me.

I try to go back to training but soon find that I can't focus for any long period of time. My eyes keep wandering over to Everdeen and Loverboy who are all over each other. I hear her laugh ripping through my soul. Her hand on his shoulder makes a shiver shoot down my spine. Her stone eyes find me and seem to fill with sorrow; it's then that I am able to look away from her. I try to focus on what I am doing but I can't seem to keep her off of my mind. I stop what I am doing and start to walk out the doors finally giving up. As I am about to leave Clove comes up to me, "Where do you think you are going?"

I look past her to Everdeen, then I look back at Clove's black eyes, "I...just have to go... I can't take it any longer." I turn back to the door. I feel myself turn back around with strange hope when I feel a hand on my back. I am surprised to see Glimmer smiling at me. She puts her hands on my chest but when I try to back up I run into the door and I'm stuck.

Glimmer is way too close for comfort, so I try to push her away, but have little success. I see that I now have everyone's attention, even 12. I see past Glimmer to Clove who makes eye contact with me, she smiles at me slightly, indicating a secret message.

I whisper into Glimmers ear, "Get off of me now." She pulls back slightly and looks at me shocked, "Why?"

"Because," I start to say louder, so more people can here, "I have someone else on my mind."

"Not me?"

"No!"

"Then who?" I look at Clove but behind her Everdeen catches my eye. She looks at me and doesn't leave my eyes. I try to breathe evenly. My heart beats faster; I try to slow it down so Glimmer doesn't notice.

"Yes, who Cato?" I hear Clove say trying to fill that empty space that has come. I can't take my eyes off of Everdeen. I shake my head both at her and Clove. I push Glimmer complete my off of me, she stumbles back into Clove. I leave the training center before anyone else can stop me.

I head off to the elevators, but I am stopped by a hand on my shoulder, "Okay why the fuck are people constantly stopping me?"

I turn to see 12's emotionless face, "I think we need to talk." She grabs my hand and pushes the button and leads me into the elevator. As the doors close I see Peeta looking at me. I give him my most menacing smile, he looks at the floor. Katniss see's this whole scene play out so she hits me in the stomach playfully, but hard. I watch as she presses the District 12 floor button and I know we are going to the roof.


	9. The Twist

**AN: Wow...it has taken me a REALLY, REALLY long time to update. You have no idea how bad I feel that I haven't updated for a long time. Between school, writers block, and editing everything just came together in such a way that it took me forever to right this chapter. I have some ideas for the next chapter so hopefully (no promises) it won't take as long. I hope you enjoy this chapter, please review :D**

As we climb up to the floor I turn to Katniss, "What about Haymitch and your escort?"

"Haymitch is out talking to some of the other mentors and my escort, Effie, is out around the Capital, probably shopping." she says not even glancing at me. I just nod then turn back to the door anxiously waiting for it to open.

After what seems to be forever the doors slide open. I step out and look around their floor to make sure that no one is actually there. As I look around my eyes catch on a rack of multiple different types of deserts, "Wait, you guys get dessert?" She bursts out in laughter.

I just stare at her confused waiting for her to explain her laughter. She just walks to the door still giggling. I start to follow her but I backtrack and grab a handful of the colorful deserts. Then I walk to the stairs that lead to the roof.

When I get to the roof I sit down on a bench and face Katniss. I stuff my face with a soft green cake.

"So, you guys really don't get dessert?"

"Nope, not until the last two days, it's part of our training." She smiles holding back a laugh but doesn't explain her question.

The silenced soon becomes awkward so I just ask the obvious question, "So why did you want to talk up here?" I say while eating my next treat.

"Isn't it obvious?"

I laugh slightly, "No, not really!"

"...Our conversation out by the fountain?"

"What about it?" I say finishing the last treat.

"Well I just thought you were upset." She says then comes over to the bench where I am sitting and sits down with me. I get up and move away from her running my hand through my hair. I look down at the streets down below us.

"No, I wasn't upset." I say watching a pair of kids about the age of six racing up and down the block in an endless chase for the end, "I just didn't get much sleep, plus I'm really focusing on training."

"Then why were you trying to leave the training center."

I turn to her sharply, "Because there was so much fucking drama going on I couldn't focus."

"I thought you said you were focusing on training?"

"I was trying to but everyone else was focusing on the drama!"

"That doesn't mean YOU have to focus on the drama."

"Well you were shoving the drama right in my face."

"Wait...what drama are we talking about here?"

"You making out with Loverboy!"

She stands up, "I wasn't making out with him!" She takes a couple steps towards me, "And I thought you said you weren't upset?"

"Well maybe I lied!" I exploded. We both stop taking and we don't move we just stay exactly where we are, facing each other. Not a single movement, not a word, until she closes her eyes.

She mutters, "You're the enemy" I could barely hear her.

"I'm the what?" I say taking a step forward.

"You're the fucking enemy!" she screams in my face.

"What's that supposed to mean?" I say angrily.

"It means you're the one who is going to win this damned thing."

"Well you have a fighting chance."

"How?" She asks me.

"...Because at 2 we go to school to _learn_ how to survive but at 12 you have to _know_ how to survive from day one. You have to fight to stay alive and hunt to get food and -" I stop.

_Hunt_.

It dawns on me. I start laughing at my stupidity. Katniss looks at me like I am insane. "You're the amazing archer aren't you? No one else could outrun me, well other then you, clove, or that ginger girl, but that's your secret isn't it? That's your specialty!"

She doesn't say a word or show any emotions she just slowly turns and walks over to a pot of primroses and stares down at them like she is pondering life. I walk over to her and say gently into her ear, "It was you, and you have a fighting chance to win." She shivers under my voice.

I don't move away from her and she doesn't even take a breath. I put my hand on her shoulder, and I feel her shudder, but it wasn't from my touch. I turn her around slowly but she keeps her eyes set on the ground. I don't push it, I just wait for her to look at me, and she eventually does. Her eyes red and tears staining her cheeks.

"What's wrong?" I say, oddly concerned.

"Just leave it." She says clearing her eyes. She tries to push past me but I stop her, "Don't try me Cato." I just give her one of my winning smirks and she gives me the common death glare.

"Just tell me what is wrong and I will let you go." I tell her. She nods and says, not breaking our eye contact, "Before I left I talked to my sister, Prim, and I told her I would try to win, but I really didn't believe it, and I still don't. But you, my enemy, my competition, believe in me! I'm just confused! Why do you believe in me?"

I stop thinking about how I should place my words. "To be honest I don't know." and with that she pushes past me successfully. She goes to sit down on a bench but I don't turn to face her.

"Why do you care about me Cato?" She starts

I still don't turn as I reply, "I...I don't know, I'm still trying to figure that out." I turn to her calmly. I see that she is just looking at me for my reaction to the question. I walk over to sit by her.

"Well when you first saw me did you expect for us to be like this?" the question comes a little unexpected.

I try and find my traction to answer the question, "W...well honestly when I first saw you all I knew was that I would have to really fight to win, but after our kiss..." I stop realizing I brought up the topic; I had not wanted to bring up. She looks at me but she is not glaring, her face emotionless but her eyes tell me that she had been waiting for me to bring up the topic.

So I continue, "...but after our kiss, my feelings started to change."

"Well the games are starting in a few days, and the whole plan with Peeta, and-" She stops looking straight into my eyes. I can't resist the urge any longer and apparently she can't either, because our lips meet in a perfect light kiss.

Everything is just how I wanted it to be and I don't care about anything else that is happening. That is until Peeta bursts up onto the roof.

"Katniss!" He yells. Even though he is frantic Katniss and I separate calmly. I smile at her and she blushes every so slightly.

"Katniss I know you are up here!" She reluctantly stands up and I follow her, feeling obligated to protect her even though I know Peeta is not a threat.

"Peeta, I'm right here what's so important?" We come into view and Peeta glares at the sight of me which makes me laugh.

"Well," He continues, "After the two of you left they announced a slight twist!" Katniss and I exchange a glance

"What is the twist?" I ask. Loverboy shoots me yet another glare.

He returns his gaze to Katniss, "Tomorrow we get to go, meet, and talk to the other victors/mentors!"


	10. The Mentors Advise

**AN: So it didn't take me as long to finish this chapter luckily! And I'm getting through the next chapter pretty fast too. I hope you enjoy this chapter! Please review!**

Preparing for the ball with the mentors is horrid. Between having to dress up, which I hate with a passion, and then my prep team trying to get information out of me about mine and Clove's relationship. I don't answer any of their questions and don't even say one word to them, but they don't seem to notice.

I let my mind wander thinking about which mentors I should talk to and which I should avoid. My mind travels to the thought of Haymitch, and then continues on to Katniss. I think about she is going to wear, no doubt it will be red or black sense she is "the girl on fire". Suddenly excitement fills me. I try to make sure none of it shows threw.

After another 10 minutes my prep team and creepy stylist say, "Okay Cato, you're all done!" I turn to look in the mirror. They have me dressed in a gold dress shirt with a stone gray suit that has small gold details in it and black dress shoes. It's totally district 2! I give them an approving nod and head out to find Clove.

I spot Clove and her black hair is flowing in waves down her back. She wears an elegant strapless gray dress that matches my suit. On her dress there is gold beading, gold high heels and is beautifully accented by gold makeup. I notice that she is staring at me so I say, "You look-"

She cuts me off, "I feel like a fucking Barbie." I can't help but laugh.

"Well, I was going to say that you look nice."

She blushes and looks at the ground, "You don't look too bad either." She looks up at me and I smile thanks, then walk past her to where the mentors are and our escort, Athena, are. Clove follows closely behind me.

"There are the lovebirds." smiles Brutus, and I can't tell if he is joking or not but either way I don't smile, I just look out the window.

I feel the cold eyes of Lyme on me, "Cato." She says coldly.

I turn to her and say with a smile, "Lyme."

"Well, should we get going?" Enobaria says before Lyme and I get into another fight.

Athena said in a hurry, "Yes, yes we should or we will be late." she grabs mine and Clove's arms and pulls us towards the elevator.

I keep my eyes on the door as we descend to the main level. The doors slid open and we walk over to the large ball room where we will all be meeting.

I walk in and see that everyone else is there already. I scan the room looking for the only person who gave me the push to actually come to this. My group scatters as they head over to the food or go talk to someone. I spot someone, not the person who I was initially looking for but they will do.

"Cato, right?" They say as a walk over to them.

"That's me," I smile and the blond in front of me, "I would just like to say, it's amazing to meet you Finnick. I have heard so much about you."

"I hope they are all good things." He leans back on the wall.

"Most of them were." I say jokingly and we both laugh.

"Well, I have heard about you too and I hope that my tributes have a chance to be part of the Careers this year, you know I think they have promise and it would be much appreciated."

"I will let them in but I can't promise anything to special." Finnick laughs and opens his mouth to say something but stops, staring past me.

Not even looking back at me he says, "Nice talking to you Cato." He steps around me and hurries to whatever he was looking at. I turn slowly and see why he was in a rush.

A stunning red dress that fades to black at the bottom radiates against her skin. She wears black high heels but has very little makeup on, everything coming together to show another breathtaking style. Katniss looks around the room in amazement, and smiles as the "Beautiful" Finnick Odair starts to talk to her.

A voice startles me, "She is actually kind of ugly isn't she." I know that was directed at Everdeen and anger fills me. I turn sharply about to blow up at who ever said that but fear immediately takes over as I see who it is.

After studying all the past games and victors there are few who scare the shit out of me; Enobaria, Brutus, and the one standing in front of me; Johanna Mason. Her sexy frame is deceiving because everyone knows she is a ruthless killer and a total bitch.

She raises an eyebrow waiting for me to answer, "We are all entitled to our own opinion."

She laughs, "Cato right? No doubt you know who I am." She says with a wink.

"Yeah," I laugh semi-nervously.

She caught on to my nerves and puts her hand on my shoulder, "No need to be nervous, if anything I should be the scared one." I give her a confused look, "I have heard you're a great fighter."

"Well I am a Career."

She smiles, "Yeah, but don't get cocky. Being cocky can make the games amusing but its just makes you are more likely to lose."

I shrug and change the subject, "You know, I can never say if your games were the most amusing or the most terrifying."

She answers simply, "Catching people off guard and getting them confused can be the best ways to win these damned things."

I look over at Katniss and see she is saying her goodbyes to Finnick, "Yes, it can be." Everdeen catches my eye and smile, I turn back to Johanna and say, "Thanks, I'll talk to you later." Then I turn and walk over to Katniss.

When we meet each other we both say in unison, "have you told anyone?" She blushes and I smile at her. Neither of us answer because we know what the response would be.

"Do you-" she starts but stops when Lyme comes over.

Lyme looks at me and says, "I hope I am not interrupting anything," I shake my head and look at my shoes as she continues, "But I would love to speak to Miss Everdeen, alone."

I shoot Lyme a glare that I know Katniss caught. As I walk past Lyme to go talk to Finnick again I say to Lyme, "I still don't trust you." By the look on Everdeen's face I know she heard too but I continue to walk away and over to Finnick.

"Hey Cato, sorry about that, I just wanted to be the first mentor, other then Haymitch, to talk to her." Finnick tells me with a smile when he sees me.

I nod, "Can I ask you a personal question?"

"Isn't that why we are here." He winks at me.

"Um, yeah, but what's it like to be in love during the Hunger Games?" He looks at me with a slightly confused look on his face but then he goes all serious.

"Honestly, it's the worst thing. When you care for someone and every minute, no, every second that could be taken away from you, the thought is unbearable. Although, for me it's probably the only reason why I won, and totally the only reason why Annie won. But, for you, to have the person _in_ the games with you, and to know only one makes it out alive, it can't be fun. There is only one other person here that has been through that."

"Who?"

"Haymitch," I realize that I should have known that right after Finnick gave me the answer. I simply nod, "But just remember Cato that love can conquer all, even these Games, just keep an open mind and trust your mentors and you and Clove will be just fine."

"What?" I say confused at his last words but I don't look to him, I look to Everdeen.

"You and Clove, that's who we are talking about, right?" He then follows my gaze the Everdeen who is talking the Lyme.

"Oh boy," he continues putting his hand on my shoulder, "Good luck. This is going to be a Game that goes down in history." I shoot him a friendly glare and he just laughs.

"It's been nice meeting you Finnick." We shake hands and walk away from each other.

"So what were you and the Famous Finnick talking about?" With her hand still on my back I turn to face Clove.

"Just about love." She blushes ever so slightly, "So about me?"

I look at her but don't answer, "I...I mean we are supposed to be together Cato." She looks at the ground under her feet.

"Yes, I know." I say then kiss her gently on the cheek. Her eyes widen and I give her a smile. I look past her to Finnick and I see he is shaking his head at me, and pointing to something that's behind me, so I turn around and see Katniss looking at me.

**AN: Oh I love Finnick! And this is not going to be the last time you hear from him!**


	11. The Games Can Change

**AN: I'm going to start off my saying sorry for not updating sooner! I know this is a short chapter but I am going on vacation over winter brake and I wanted to at least have an update. Lastly I have a QUESTION FOR YOU ALL; should I do long chapters or short chapters? If I do short chapters I will probably update sooner but I know that some people don't like short chapters so please tell me what you think! Hope you enjoy this chapter! PLEASE REVIEW AND ANSWER THE QUESTION!**

"Katniss, wait!" I say trying to catch up to her as she moves through the crowed of victors and tributes to the patio door.

"Katniss please just hear me out." I say following her through the patio doors.

"Why? You kiss me, than the next minute you kiss Clove? Is that how you are playing these games? Make me fall in love with you, making it easier for you to kill me?" She has blocked all emotions from showing.

"No, that's not is at all! It was just a kiss on the cheek and I am supposed to be "in love" with her and you're supposed to be with Peeta!" I say my voice starting to get angry but I try to hold it back.

"No! Not any more." She says looking me straight in the eyes. I say nothing and she just shivers as a cold wind passes by.

"What do you mean?" I finally get out as I gesture for her to sit down with me on a small bench. She sighs but sits down. She sits right next to me to gain some warmth.

"I talked to Haymitch and convinced him to not continue with the whole love thing, I told him that I just wanted to be independent in the games."

"Why?" I say still genuinely confused.

"B-because of last night. With everything that happened," She says while looking down at the floor, "It made me realize-"

I cut her off realizing what she is getting at, "No, I get it now, you don't want to get distracted in the games and you just want to be by yourself, it's fine, but it would have been nice to know that before-" I stop myself. I just smile at my thought and run my hand through my hair.

"Before what?"

I look at her straight in the eyes, "Before I feel for you." I saw her breath catch a little, but they she smiles, and a blush tints her cheeks, "But obviously that doesn't matter" I add as I start to get up slowly and start for the door.

Her voice stops me, "You're right I don't want to have any distractions in the games, I just want to get home to my sister, and being "in love" with Peeta is just what I don't need," I feel her hand on my back and I turn around, "But what I do need is some who believes in me." Then she kisses me, gently, and pulls back.

We walk back into the room together and we go our separate ways. I see Finnick looking at me and I send him a smile telling him that very thing is fine; he nods and continues his conversation with the boy from 5.

I walk over to the only other mentor I feel that I absolutely need to talk to, Haymitch. As he sees me coming over to him I flinches slightly as if I am coming over there to hurt him. "I need to talk to you about something." I say and Haymitch just nods silently, so I continue, "What's it like having the person you love in the games with you?"

He sighs, "During the games it's a living hell, even more than if it was just the normal games, but after, when they die in your arms, nothing can whip the image from your brain." His eyes look far away. I know what he is thinking about his games and everything that happened to him during them.

I start to walk away not wanting to bug him because I already got the information I wanted from him but Haymitch's voice stops me, "It isn't Clove is it?" I don't answer but he continues, "It won't ever work out between you two."

"You can't control who I love, or who she loves."

"No, but I can control some of the games."

**PS. My Birthday is Tomorrow (Dec 19) So this is my present to all of you who are amazing for supporting me in writing this story! Thanks you so much I HONESTLY could not have done it with out you!**


	12. Changing

**AN: I'm going to start off with saying sorry. Sorry for not updating. Sorry for updating with such a short chapter. Sorry for bad spelling/grammar, I only did a quick edit. Sorry for NOT UPDATING! I feel awful! Thank you everyone who loves this story it really means a lot to me. Hopefully the updates will be a lot easier coming up because we just started a new semester. Lastly I hope you enjoy this chapter and please REVIEW or PM! Thanks :)**

I didn't talk to Katniss for the rest of the night. Now, I just sit at the dining room table making my knife spin in circles while I rest my head on my hand. How did this happen? How did I manage to get myself into such a fucking mess? How did I get myself so off track? Why is nothing going as planned?

The answer to all of those is simple; Katniss Everdeen.

I know now that I can't deny my feeling, but I can't act on them. I am not one to just sit in the corner and hope for the best, that is not my style. I go at my problems full force, but now I am being restrained, unable to move back or move forward. I'm just stuck right where I am.

"Did you have a good night Cato?" Clove is behind me, she has probably been standing there for quite some time now. I lay the knife down on the table and look at her.

"It depends on your definition of good." Clove gives me a look that I can't place; I just stare at her, hiding all of my emotions as I wait for her to answer.

"What happened?"

I give her a smirk, "To be honest, I'm still figuring it out."

"I saw you go out to the patio to talk to Everdeen, what was that about?"

"You saw that?" I don't look at her, I can't look at her.

She moves closer to me, sitting down in the chair next to mine, "Cato, everyone saw that."

"Fuck." I pick up the knife again and twirl it between my fingers, "Well I...I am still trying to figure out her specialty and needed to talk to her about it."

She raises her eyebrow questioning me, "You're changing." She says simply.

"What?"

"You're not who you used to be. You used to me fierce and nothing could get to you no matter how much someone tried. Now, you are quieter and you seem to be losing your temper, which is a good thing and a bad thing." I roll my eyes and look at her as she continues, "What happened? What is going on?"

I let out a sigh; I ponder all the different thing I could do. I could tell her the truth. I could deny it again. I could throw a fit and start yelling about how it is my business and she need to stay out of my life. Or I could just say something to piss her off.

I get up and look at her. Her dark eyes seem lighter and I say, "I'm not the only one who is changing clove." I put down the knife and walk away, back into my room.

I flop down onto my bed staring at the ceiling. I pull out my box of throwing knives that are on the bedside table. I through the knife at the door and watch as it hits the door with a satisfying thud.

3 more days.

I throw another one harder.

Tomorrow we train with our mentors

I throw yet another one.

The next day is the Private Session with the Gamemakers. (And Desert!)

I throw another knife.

The last day we have the Interviews.

Then the Games begin.

I throw my last knife as hard as I can; it slams into the door loudly.

"CATO! STOP THROWING THOSE GOD DAMN KNIVES!"

"Well you're in luck...I'm all out."

Enobaria comes into my room, "Cato, what the fuck are you doing you are going to have to pay for that!"

"Actually I will only have to pay for that if I win, otherwise you will have to pay for that!"

She stops and looks at me, glaring daggers in my direction. "What is going on with you?"

I grab my pillow and pull it over my face, "Why is everyone asking me that?" I yell into my pillow. I heard a thump right over my head; I slowly look up and see a knife digging into the headboard. I look at Enobaria and see that she has her hands on her hips and there is one less knife on the door. "Are you trying to kill me?!"

"Whatever it takes to get you thinking like a victor again."

"Can you people just leave me alone?" I burst, "Maybe I am not who I was when I first got here, maybe I have changed but I still want to win, I don't want to die! It's just that something has come up but I am trying to get around it right now! So please just leave me alone unless it is a life or death matter."

I watch as she lets out an angry sigh, "Try and figure your shit out, and if you can't, come to one of us and tell us what the fuck is going on, because we have some ideas, but none of us are happy with them." and with that she walks out of my room.

I'm left alone with my thoughts. 3 more days and then only one of us comes out and I am going to make damn sure that it will be me, Katniss, or both of us.


End file.
